Book 7, Chapter 31: Backup Plans (2)
Book 7, Chapter 31: Backup Plans (2)
The humans and Harpies both had won their respective battles against the Demonic Beast already.
Even so, the outcome was still different for each of them.
The Harpies fought with their opponents head-on, befitting a conflict between Emperor-level powers. They had relied on brute strength to steamroll their enemies. By the time they won, they had also exterminated a majority of the Beasts they were facing.
The humans, however, had unleashed a targeted strike. Before the Beasts had even truly been defeated, Su Chen had scattered them just by yelling. This resulted in the Beasts fleeing while the humans gave chase.
As such, no one really noticed that Su Chen was actually intentionally chasing the Beasts in the Harpies’ direction, and had even left some of them alive for this exact reason.
Su Chen had only killed the Weeping Heart Sovereign. The other four were still alive.
And Su Chen had only killed a dozen or so Demonic Emperors. Even factoring in the twenty more that the others had killed, more than eighty were still alive.
In other words, the Beasts’ high-ranking leadership was still mostly intact. The only Beasts that had actually been killed were the ones who ran a little too slowly.
After these Beasts were defeated by the humans, they were forced to abandon their old homes and could only run in the direction that the Harpies were coming from. If they wanted to survive, they would definitely clash with the Harpies sooner or later.
And that was precisely what Su Chen was aiming for.
Eternal Night wasn’t the only one who had prepared a present.
Sky City’s energy was being funneled into its speed, not on defense, and because Sark’s Nucleus was being somewhat overdrawn, Sky City slammed into the Beasts without time to even slow down. Suddenly, the Beast armies were looming over them.
Boom, boom, boom, boom!
Demonic Beasts began to crash into Sky City in waves.
This collision was plain and simple. Without the barrier, large groups of Beasts suddenly found themselves inside the city.
“Stop them this instant!” Lonely Skyleap howled as he charged into the fray.
The attack had come so quickly that the Beasts had already entered the city before the soldiers were even able to mount the city’s walls. Sky City’s offensive options were also still in the process of coming online, but the first wall had already been breached.
This was a quick and humiliating blemish on Sky City.
Thankfully, the Harpies responded quite quickly. As the Beasts began pouring into the city, large groups of Harpies took flight, assuming formation in the skies as they began unleashing a storm of arrows at the Beasts below them.
Even so, close-quarter combat was a nightmare for most Harpies. The Beasts charged through the storm of arrows, snapping at the throats of the Harpies and tearing the unfortunate ones apart. Lonely Skyleap had only just gathered a group of Harpies when they were scattered by the ferocious Beasts almost immediately.
Beast after Beast rushed into the city, destroying everything inside in a frenzy and devouring any Harpies they could get their hands on to vent their rage.
Sky City was at its weakest. Even though Sark’s Nucleus had begun to wind down, this process would take time. Before Sky City slowed down, the barrier would not be activated.
In other words, they needed to endure for some time.
Lonely Skyleap wondered whether the Harpies would be able to hold out until then. The Demonic Beasts were simply too powerful, and without the aid of Sky City’s powerful defensive and offensive tools, the Harpies were totally at the mercy of the Beasts.
“Mother Goddess Sect Guards, destroy the invaders!” a clear voice rang out through the sky.
“Serene Dream Lotus Crown?” Lonely Skyleap turned around with joy and found a large group of Mother Goddess Sect Guards wearing golden combat uniforms swarming in their direction.
The Mother Goddess Sect Guards were trained entirely by the Mother Goddess Sect, making them one of the strongest groups of Harpy soldiers. Under normal circumstances, they were left to patrol the Mother Goddess Sect temple. Only in moments of extreme crisis would they appear in battle.
There weren’t too many of them, but each one of them was elite and experienced. Most of them wouldn’t even grunt in pain if they were wounded. And unlike the rest of the Harpies, they seemed to have no problems with close-quarters combat.
However, there were simply too many Beasts present. Even though the Mother Goddess Sect guards were very powerful, their numbers were still beginning to dwindle under the deluge of attacks coming from the Beasts.
“AWOO!”
A pale green wolf howled as it pounced, sinking its teeth deep into one of the Mother Goddess Sect’s guards and tearing him in two. It quickly discarded the corpse and leapt towards its next target.
“Brainless Beasts!” Serene Dream Lotus Crown roared as she attacked, holding a saintly halo in her hand. When she tossed the halo into the air, holy light filled the sky, and all of the nearby Beasts suddenly slowed down.
This was Serene Dream Lotus Crown’s Dreamlike Light. Any person who fell under the shining of the light would immediately feel as if they were suddenly in a dream, and their movements would slow significantly. In a large-scale battle, this technique was terrifyingly powerful.
Even so, the Dreamlike Light’s range was limited, and as even more Beasts poured in from outside the city walls, they continued to wreak havoc in Sky City. These Beasts were unhindered by the Dreamlike Light.
Even Serene Dream Lotus Crown felt an overwhelming sense of helplessness when faced with such overwhelming numbers.
Boom!
A giant bull charged forwards, goring Serene Dream Lotus Crown with its large horns.
A red lotus appeared on Serene Dream Lotus Crown’s chest.
Petals began to flow unceasingly from the lotus, stopping the bull’s horns in its tracks.
However, Serene Dream Lotus Crown’s face was extremely pale.
The bull’s horn suddenly shown as its tip sharpened significantly. Serene Dream Lotus Crown’s defenses immediately shattered, and the horn pierced her chest, causing blood to spray out from the wound.
This attack had come from the Sovereign of Regret that Su Chen had beat back before. Now, he was making his appearance on the battlefield once again.
The Sovereign of Regret prepared to charge at Serene Dream Lotus Crown yet again as he roared with excitement, “Die for me!”
At that moment, a shriveled black hand suddenly reached out and grabbed the horn, stopping it in its tracks.
A thin, weak-looking old man faded into view.
“Your Majesty!” Serene Dream Lotus Crown cried out with excitement.
It was Eternal Night.
The old man held the bull horn and let out a gentle sigh. “You shouldn’t have sought your own death like this.”
As he spoke, he gestured with his hand, sending the Sovereign of Regret flying.
The Sovereign of Regret tumbled through the sky. “You won’t be able to kill me on your own!”
Eternal Night shook his head. “I didn’t say I would kill you. The one killing you is it.”
He pointed behind him.
The Sovereign of Regret was taken aback. A giant cannon was beginning to emerge above the Perpetual Daylight Palace and turned to aim squarely at him.
The Mother Goddess Sect’s Demon-Executing Cannon!
The Sovereign of Regret’s expression dramatically changed. “NO!”
BOOM!!!
The cannon fired an explosive shot.
A dense column of lightning pierced the Sovereign of Regret’s body, instantly turning more than half of his body to ash.
This half of his body was gone forever. Even with the Sovereign of Regret’s incredibly powerful vitality, it was impossible for him to regenerate.
He gazed at the missing lower half of his body in disbelief before letting out a long guttural howl. Suddenly, the rest of his body began to turn to ash as well.
“Your Majesty, that was incredible!” Serene Dream Lotus Crown and Lonely Skyleap both began to shout.
The Demon-Executing Cannon, like the barrier, was powered by energy.
But because the Demon-Executing Cannon was a single entity, the amount of energy it required was farless.
As such, Eternal Night had made a shocking decision when he saw the enemy ambush - instead of using the precious energy they had gained from slowing Sark’s Nucleus down to power the barrier, he had diverted it to the Demon-Executing Cannon.
Of course, this would also delay the barrier’s activation.
The bloody battle would persist for longer.
Eternal Night, however, was prepared for this.
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!
Dozens of Arcana Masters appeared behind Eternal Night. Following his gesture, the Arcana Masters arrayed themselves in formation. At the same time, the Demon-Executing Cannon fired again, this time aimed towards the densest group of Beasts that had invaded the city.
With a thunderous boom, yet another column of lightning burst forth, incinerating many of the Beasts gathered there.
This was the disadvantage of fighting on home soil: the more powerful the attack, the more damage they would cause to themselves.
Obviously, Eternal Night was putting it all on the line.
The Demonic Beasts were invading with no respite. If the Harpies wanted to protect themselves, they needed to be resolute enough to break their own wrists if necessary.
This involved not only the destruction of the city itself, but also of the elite soldiers and Arcana Masters still there!
The Beast invasion had come too suddenly, and the only groups of soldiers that had managed to mobilize in time were all elites at least at the Fifth Ring or higher.
Without enough cannon fodder on the front lines, these Arcana Masters and elite archers had no choice but to personally lead the charge into battle, using their own bodies to demarcate a front line. They had exchanged their lives for nothing more than their enemy’s cannon fodder.
This pained Eternal Night greatly.
Even so, he had no other choice.
When faced with the Beasts, who had already made their way into the city, not spilling blood was no longer an option. The only choice they had was to fight until the bitter end.
A shockingly bloody battle began to unfold in Sky City.
Both sides were doing their utmost to slaughter the other.
The Beasts obviously wanted to use this opportunity to exterminate the Harpies, while the Harpies were doing their best to hold on until the barrier returned.
Within the depths of the core, large numbers of Harpies were furiously throwing Origin Stones into the furnace. An old Craftsman slowly counted out the numbers as they rose: “Eighty-six...... Eighty-seven...... We’re almost there......”
Boom!
A giant explosion caused the ground beneath them to tremble.
“Eighty-four...... Dammit, why’d they fire again? We were almost there!” the elder cursed angrily.
“There was nothing we could have done. Another few Demonic Emperors and a Blood Rhinoceros charged in. If we hadn’t opened fire, the core would have been lost...... They seem to know that this area is critical and have been charging here this whole time. His Majesty and Her Majesty are both leading troops into battle right now, but we aren’t used to fighting in formation like this,” the general replied as if he was about to cry.
Even though he was in the room, his heart was still outside, and he wanted nothing more than to charge into battle with his comrades.
“It must be that bastard Su Chen who leaked these secrets. Ask them to hold on just a bit longer!” the old Craftsman yelled.
Su Chen!
In that moment, the Harpies’ collective hatred for Su Chen burned more fiercely than ever before.
Meanwhile, the battle was still ongoing, and blood was flowing everywhere.
Even the highest nobility like Eternal Night and Serene Dream Lotus Crown were in dire straits. Lonely Skyleap was seriously wounded and had almost lost his life.
Even so, Beasts were still constantly streaming into the city with no regard for their own safety, and the three Sovereigns had banded together once more.
After discovering the presence of the Demon-Executing Cannon, they had stealthily hidden themselves in the clouds and refused to show themselves. That didn’t stop them from unleashing attacks, though.
“Your Majesty, fire the Demon-Executing Cannon again!” some of the Harpy generals yelled, unable to withstand the unending barrage of attacks.
“Hold on for just a moment longer!” Eternal Night gritted his teeth.
“Ninety seven.”
“Ninety eight.”
“Ninety nine......” the elder cried out in excitement, preparing to activate the defensive barriers.
At that moment, a figure suddenly appeared in the core’s control room.
It was Su Chen.